Westerling, The Dutch Protected Killer Of Sulawesi Citizens

Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - "If you only give a smile, Westerling smiles, oh come over my dear fighter, land smoothly inside me".

The sentence above is a fragment of the lyrics of the song Aircraft Combat by Iwan Fals. There is the word Westerling in the lyrics. The word refers to someone who committed the massacre of the Indonesian people, and has not been brought to justice to this day.

Is Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling, a Dutch soldier in World War II. He started his military career when he joined the Koninklijk Nederlands Indische Leger (KNIL). His arrival to Indonesia for a Dutch aggression mission. He came to leave wounds and bad memories for the people of Indonesia, especially Sulawesi.

At that time, the AFNEI and NICA soldiers were in an overwhelmed position against the guerrillas carried out by the youth of Sulawesi such as Wolter Mongisidi, Andi Selle, Andi Sose, Ali Malaka and others. The allies finally brought in Depot Special Troops (DST) reinforcements, a kind of Dutch special forces.

They came to Makassar with a force of 123 people, brought together by Raymond Paul Pierre Westerling, on December 5, 1946. The aim was to fight against guerrillas as well as anyone who tried to rebel against the Dutch.

They immediately moved aggressively to occupy areas in Sulawesi. Westerling's movement against guerrillas was also accompanied by the massacre of local people who tried to resist or hide the existence of guerrillas.

The massacres were carried out in stages, starting on 11-16 December 1946 in Makassar. Then, on 17-31 December 1946 in Gowa, Takalar, Jeneponto, Polombangkeng, Binamu. Then, on January 2-16, 1947 in Bantaeng, Gantaran, Bulukumba, Sinjai. Furthermore, 17 January-5 March 1947 in Maros, Pangkajene, Sigeri, Tanete, Barru, Pare-pare, Polewali Mandar, Sidenreng, Rappang and Suppa. Even in Suppa, the king was also killed by Westerling and his DST troops.

The Westerling maneuver in Sulawesi from 11 December 1946 to 5 March 1947 claimed a total of 40,000 people, consisting of the military and the community. To avoid prosecution and prosecution before the international military court, Westerling was removed from the KNIL.

Now to commemorate the massacre by Westerling and DST troops in Sulawesi, a monument of 40,000 people, 40,000 battalion and 40,000 street names are being built.

After carrying out a massacre in Sulawesi and being disabled, Westerling went into hiding. In this period of hiding, he gathered new strength. Westerling again appeared to create chaos with the APRA (Ratu Adil Armed Forces), they attacked the TNI in Bandung, West Java, on January 23, 1950.

Numbering 500 troops, Westerling's APRA moved from along the Cimahi road. They terrorized people's homes, police stations along the highway such as Cimindi, Cibereum and several others.

In addition, they caused panic among the people. The shops were closed, the streets were deserted, and no one dared to leave the house.

In Banceuy, an unarmed TNI officer driving a Jeep was intercepted and then shot dead. His body was left lying just like that.

APRA troops also fired blindly at the members of the Siliwangi Division. This incident killed 79 members of the Siliwangi Division. In a police investigation in early 1955, there were findings of an additional 15 soldiers, even one of whom had the rank of captain.

The background to the brutal action of APRA which carried out a separatist movement in order to realize the establishment of the Pasundan state. If this Pasundan country can stand, then APRA will be its army. There are also those who say that the APRA chaired by Westerling is a coup attempt by Bung Karno.

After the riots in Bandung, Westerling's next plan was to kill Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX and Bung Hatta. But Westerling's plan failed because he had been hunted down by the TNI. He went to Jakarta and fled to Singapore via the port of Tanjung Priok.

At the port of Tanjung Priok, Westerling fled with the help of the Catalina ship belonging to the Dutch Navy. Receiving this news, the Indonesian government asked Singapore to extradite Westerling to Indonesia again for trial.

However, on the grounds that Westerling is a Dutch citizen, the head of the Singapore High Court, Judge Evans, rejected Indonesia's request for extradition.

Westerling also made it back to the Netherlands. This is what Iwan Fals wrote, 'Westerling smiles'.

However, the Indonesian government still asked Dutch Jobs to extradite him to Indonesia, on May 12, 1952. This request was in vain, because the Dutch Supreme Court did not grant it.

Dutch try to prosecute Westerling

Westerling was brought to the Dutch court. However, he was released the day after with the verdict that he was not guilty of his actions while serving in Indonesia.

Panda Nababan, a journalist from Sinar Harapan, managed to interview Westerling in Amsterdam in 1979. At that time, Westerling was 60 years old.

During his discharge from the army, Westerling sold books and set up a small printing press to support him. During the interview, Westerling did not feel guilty, instead he was proud of his activities in Indonesia. He also denied massacring 40 thousand Sulawesi people. Westerling claims he only killed 3,000-4,000 people during the military operation.

Panda Nababan also interviewed the Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands who was on duty at that time, asking about Westerling's extradition efforts to Indonesia. The Ambassador argued that this was dangerous, because it could damage international relations, considering that the Netherlands is also the chairman of the Inter Governmental Group of Indonesia (IGGI).

A consortium founded in Amsterdam in February 1967, consisting of donor countries that often provide debt loans to Indonesia.

Quoted from Historia.id, a tougher effort to extradite Westerling was proposed by the Minister of Information (1968-1973) Vice Admiral Boediardjo, and the Student Army figure who later became Minister of Information (1964-1966) Achmadi. They want to kidnap Westerling, but the mission is leaked.

Other proposals have also emerged from Bugis merchants, who are willing to hire assassins for around 10 thousand US dollars. Bugis traders felt that they were the biggest victims of the Westerling massacre, because of its location in Sulawesi.

All attempts to extradite and try Westerling failed, on 28 November 1987, he died peacefully. He was buried in the small town of Purmerend, 20 kilometers from the City of Amsterdam.

The difficulty of Westerling being tried for his war crimes cannot be separated from the alleged involvement of the Dutch government who protected him. This assumption makes sense because of the frequent political maneuvers of the Dutch Royal family in Indonesia.

For example, when the Dutch government carried out a massacre in Sulawesi and the APRA case in West Java. Everything was masterminded by Prince Bernhard, whose ambition was for the Dutch to remain in control of Indonesia. He also had plans to stage a coup against President Soekarno in 1950.

Therefore, what Westerling did was one of the ways to undermine President Soekarno's power and was allegedly based on direct instructions from Prince Bernhard. This is quoted from a report by the Dutch media, one of which is the 30 November 2009 edition of BN DeStem, "Bernhard wilde coup in Indonesië" (Bernhard wanted a coup in Indonesia).

Meanwhile, quoted by Tempo in the 12 September 2013 edition, after 26 years of Westerling's death, in 2013, the Dutch government expressed an apology for the Westerling massacre. They also provide compensation to the families of the victims in the amount of 20 thousand euros or the equivalent of 243 million rupiah per person.

This article quotes from the Twitter account thread @mazzini_giusepe

"If you only give a smile, Wasterling smiles, oh stop by my dear fighter, land smoothly in my heart". This chopping of the lyrics to the song Aircraft Combat by om @iwanfals mentions a character who slaughtered the Indonesian people, escaped & was not tried pic.twitter .com / xhmR72l5uB

- Mazzini (@mazzini_giusepe) June 11, 2019